Better childcare facilities must be provided to help women advance in business and the workplace, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said yesterday.
Addressing a conference in Kentucky in the US on the theme, Women Mean Business, she said that despite the Government's introduction of measures to encourage employer initiatives last year, more must be done.
"Too many women are being forced to choose between business and career ambitions and what I would term family ambition. This polar choice is unnecessary, destructive and economically inefficient," she said.
"We need society and then business to fully recognise the validity and, indeed, desirability of family ambition and responsibilities. These need to be recognised as normal aspects of the human condition and not an alternative to career and business ambitions."
Ms Harney, who is visiting the US on a seven-day industrial promotion tour organised by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, expressed concern at the failure of women to reach senior grades in certain management areas.
"The finance departments are still dominated by men. Similarly, the labour movement is largely male-dominated. While female penetration of the new art of human resource management is significant, the industrial relations field retains a strong male or, indeed, macho presence. It is not better or more rational for that.
"The trustees and managers of most large funds are predominantly male. While there are exceptions, it is generally a `he' who controls the cash, a `he' who decides which stock will be held. I am concerned that this marketplace, with its male domination, may represent a significant obstacle to women realising their higher ambitions in the enterprise world."
Businesses that fail to secure a "proper balance of women" in their management teams would not ensure that their strategies reflected the markets in which they operated, she said. "The business reality is that women make up half of the consumers in the world. "There is no doubt that the provision of childcare options has proved a critical factor in facilitating the participation of many young mothers in various enterprise programmes in Ireland.
"Various reports have also highlighted the need for action on childcare in order to overcome the difficulties facing women in the workplace and in enterprise. We must do more in the future to assist on childcare."
